Thursday, September 6, 2018

At least 7 people were killed and more than 30 others are still missing and feared dead after a powerful M6.7 earthquake hit Hokkaido, Japan at 18:07 UTC on September 5 (03:07 JST, September 6). JMA says the earthquake measured 7 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale, the strongest possible level. Dozens of aftershocks were recorded.
The quake triggered over 800 landslides, caused widespread damage and left the entire Hokkaido Prefecture without power after the Tomato Atsuma thermal power plant in the city of Sunagawa stopped working. The massive power outage affected 2.95 million customers.
A large number of homes were wiped out in Atsuma, near the epicenter, leaving more than 30 people missing. Rescue workers are frantically searching for people buried in the rubble, NHK reports.
"In areas where shaking was strong, the danger of houses collapsing and landslides could be very high. Pay attention to upcoming seismic activity and rainfall. Don't come into dangerous areas unless it's necessary and be careful to look out for your own safety," JMA's Toshiyuki Matsumori said.
Aviation authorities canceled all flights at Hokkaido's New Chitose Airport and local trains have stopped. Public bus services have also shut down and many highways have closed. Schools are also closed for the day, NHK said.
The extent of the damage is still being assessed but throughout the prefecture, buildings are tilted and roads are cracked and buckled.

The earthquake paralyzed Japan's northern island of Hokkaido on Thursday, killing at least seven people, triggering landslides and knocking out power to its 5.3 million residents.

The death toll from the 6.7-magnitude, pre-dawn quake was likely to rise as rescuers searched houses buried by landslides.
About 33 people were missing and 300 were injured, public broadcaster NHK said. Four people were in cardiopulmonary arrest, a term used before death is officially confirmed.
The quake was the latest in a string of natural disasters to batter
Japan after typhoons, flooding and a record-breaking heat wave within
the past two months.
Aerial footage showed dozens of landslides exposing barren hillsides
near the town of Atsuma in southern Hokkaido, with mounds of red earth
and toppled trees piled at the edge of green fields.
The collapsed remains of what appeared to be houses or barns were strewn about.
"It came in four big jerks - boom! boom! boom! boom!" one
unidentified woman told NHK. "Before we knew it our house was bent and
we couldn't open the door."

THE FINANCIAL ASPECTS OF AN EARTHQUAKE

The island, a tourist destination about the size of Austria known for its mountains, lakes and seafood, lost its power when Hokkaido Electric Power Co shut down of all its fossil fuel-fired power plants after the quake as a precaution.
It was the first time since the utility was established in 1951 that had happened.
Almost 12 hours later, power was restored to parts of Sapporo, Hokkaido's capital, and Asahikawa, its second-biggest city.
The government said there was damage to Hokkaido Electric's Tomato-Atsuma plant, which supplies half the island's 2.95 million households. It could take a week to restore power fully to all residents, Industry Minister Hiroshige Seko said.
All trains across the island were halted. Abe's Liberal Democratic Party begins a leadership contest on Friday but said there would be no campaigning through to Sunday.
Abe and rival Shigeru Ishiba both canceled campaign media appearances slated for Friday.

'NOTHING I CAN DO'

Television footage from Sapporo showed crumbled roads and mud covering a main street. Police directed traffic because signal lights were out while drink-vending machines, ubiquitous in Japan, and most ATMs were not working.
"Without electricity, there's nothing I can do except to write prescriptions," a doctor in Abira, the town next to Atsuma, told NHK.
Media reported a baby girl at a Sapporo hospital was in critical condition after the power was cut to her respirator. It wasn't clear if the hospital had a generator.
The quake hit at 3:08 a.m. (1808 GMT Wednesday) at a depth of 40 km (25 miles), with its epicenter about 65 km (40 miles) southeast of Sapporo, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. In Atsuma, it registered a 7 on Japan's 7-point quake intensity scale, the agency said, revising an earlier measurement.
Hokkaido's main airport was closed, at least for the day. Debris and water could be seen on the terminal floors.
Kyodo news agency said more than 200 flights and 40,000 passengers would be affected on Thursday alone.
The closure comes just days after Kansai Airport, another major regional hub, in western Japan, was shut by Typhoon Jebi, which killed 11 people and injured hundreds.
The storm, the most powerful to hit Japan in 25 years, stranded thousands of passengers and workers at the airport, whose operator said it would resume some domestic flights on Friday.
In July, torrential rain in west Japan caused flooding that killed more than 200 people and widespread destruction. That was followed by a heat wave that reached a record 41.1 Celsius and led to the deaths of at least 80 people.

FACTORIES HALTED

Farming, tourism and other services are big economic drivers on Hokkaido, which accounts for just 3.6 percent of Japan's gross domestic product, but there is some industry. Kirin Brewery and Sapporo Breweries both said factories were shut by the power outage.
A series of smaller shocks followed the initial quake, the JMA said. Residents were warned to take precautions.
By the afternoon, backhoes and other earth-moving equipment in Atsuma had begun clearing debris.
Japan is situated on the "Ring of Fire" arc of volcanoes and oceanic trenches that partly encircles the Pacific Basin.
Northeast Japan was hit by a 9 magnitude earthquake on March 11, 2011, that triggered a tsunami that killed nearly 20,000 people and led to meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
Hokkaido's Tomari nuclear power station, which has been shut since the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, suffered a power outage but officials said it was cooling its spent nuclear fuel safely.
Saturday marked the 95th anniversary of the Great Kanto earthquake, which had a magnitude of 7.9 and killed more than 140,000 people in the Tokyo area. Seismologists have said another such quake could strike the capital at any time.